Sanofi-Pasteur, the world’s biggest vaccine company, has signed a contract with the University of California, San Diego, to develop “an immunological approach to acne prevention and treatment”.

“More than 85 per cent of teenagers and over 40 million people in the United States alone are suffering this disease” and many adults have it too, says Chun-Ming Huang, head of the lab at the centre of the deal.

Yet there is little effective treatment, says Huang. “This collaboration will make our dreams of acne vaccines for the public come true earlier”